


Beyond Good and Evil

by Perhapsormaybe



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angels vs. Demons, Attempt at Humor, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 01:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17437610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perhapsormaybe/pseuds/Perhapsormaybe
Summary: This is a story where Kwamis fill the roles of Angel and Demon. Though maybe no one is truly Good or truly Evil. Plagg assigns himself to Marinette, intent on the idea of corrupting her. And Tikki chooses Adrien, seeing a lonely boy and wanting to prevent his potential start of darkness.





	1. At the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been floating for a while. I wanted to play with kwami swaps, but beyond them swapping powers. This is where that lead me.

They are not all good. They are not all bad. Kwamis exist outside such black and white definitions, each able to choose their purpose for themselves. But let’s say that we could assign our own terms to them. Let’s pretend, at least for now, that they could fit into our rigidly defined boxes.

Then, perhaps, you would say Plagg belonged to the side of Evil. He often described himself as a devil, after all (sometimes, but not always, with the word “handsome” proceeding it). His chaotic nature and abilities towards destruction would lend itself naturally to the title.

Tikki - sweet, sensible Tikki - you would have a hard time finding a being closer to Angelic. With her tendency to try to bring light into the world, her ability to create and her natural optimism. Surely she would fit in neatly into our world’s Nice box - there, with the N nice and big, perhaps the whole world in all caps just to emphasize.

Angel, Demon or any other definition you wished to apply, Kwamis often looked out from their own realm and made the decision to interfere. For good or ill. And so it happened that the Angel and the Demon were watching Paris at the same time, but their attentions drawn to separate individuals. Tikki’s interest was piqued in an attractive blonde boy. As she looked on, he ate lunch alone in an enormous dining room. A pipe or some unseen bored shifted, making a subtle noise and the boy looked up, hopeful. His expression slowly melted into a dejected frown as he realized that noise had not meant that anyone would be joining him. Tikki worried this boy would be easily tempted towards evil. She sensed mostly good coming from his heart, but sadness had a way of eating at people. Of corrupting purity until only bitterness remained. She did not wish that fate on anyone, but this boy in particular seemed necessary to save.

While she was watching the lonely rich boy, Plagg’s attention had been caught by a baker’s daughter. Sweet, shy and with a strong sense of right and wrong. A candy had been placed in her hair by a rude classmate. The girl was enraged, but she did nothing except cut the candy out of her hair. Now Plagg didn’t actually truly want to corrupt - he didn’t want to push humans into doing anything monstrous, anyway. But he did like having fun. And someone with the particular sense of justice that this girl had…well, right now she was too timid to be doing all that she was capable of. Which was fine. He knew how to fix this. So he had set off from the Kwami dimension at the same time as Tikki.

 

Neither Kwami had noticed that the other had left their dimension. So they also had no way of knowing that they had ended up in Paris, France at the same time, and in fact within easy walking distance of one another (or floating distance, if you’d rather). The only sign was the two falling stars that night that anyone watching the Paris sky could see float by each other, parallel, with one moving only the slightest fraction faster than the other. And since they had no ability to sense one another, they had no clue that an old friend was already in the city. Not that he had chosen to be there.

* * *

Marinette hadn’t noticed the ‘falling stars’ outside. She had been working on a new dress design, erasing and redrawing the bodice multiple times before she threw her sketchpad beside her bed in frustration. Normally designing could help her calm down, but right now she was too riled up. Chloe Bourgeois was once again trying to make her life miserable, and today's candy in the hair and only been the latest in a long line of awful (if thoroughly unoriginal) pranks. While the appearance of Alya had been a welcome distraction, Alya couldn’t force Chloe to behave herself. Not for lack of trying, Marinette noted with a smirk.

She had missed Plagg’s descent, but she was alert enough to feel suddenly as though she was being watched. She grabbed a pillow off her bed and held it in front of her like a shield. “Is someone there…?” She scooted slowly around the room, pillow still raised in front of her chest.

“Boo!” Plagg shouted, sneaking up behind her. Marinette shrieked, driving the pillow down with all her might towards the Kwami’s form. Plagg merely phased himself through it.

“Why is the cat floating?! …wait..I don’t have a cat!” she tried once more to swat at Plagg, but when he phased through again she realized it was futile. “What are you? What do you want?”

“I’m Plagg. And I want cheese,” he grinned at her toothily. “Camembert, please.”

“You just came in for cheese?”

“Oh no, but I’m not saying anything else until I get cheese.”

“Okaaaay….” Marinette said slowly, letting out a long breath. “But then you’ll tell me what you’re doing in my room? And leave?”

“I promise I will definitely do …one of those two things.”

If Marinette realized what he’d promised, she gave no indication. She rushed down the stairs and grabbed all of the cheese out of the fridge, nearly balling herself over with the weight as she rushed back to her room. “There, cheese,” she said, pushing it all towards the floating cat. “Help yourself, and then you can head out.”

“Oh no,” Plagg shook his head, selecting a piece of Camembert and biting into it, wrapper and all. “I’ll tell you why I’m here, but I’m not leaving. I said I’d do one of those things. I choose the tell option.”

“Ok, why are you here, what do you want? I can’t have a pet. Not even a talking one. What are you?”

“Not fond of questions is what I am,” Plagg gulped down his cheese hunk. “We’ll put it in the easy terms. I am your own personal devil.”

“I think I have one of those already,” Marinette thought of Chloe and shuddered, “Don’t think I need two.”

“You do,” Plagg said confidently, “I am here to tempt you so that you can see the world a different way. The fun way.”

“Is this the part where I tell you to ‘be gone’ or the part where I go get an exorcist?”

“You can do both if you’d like. The won’t work, so it doesn’t matter. The last exorcism I had was quite fun, actually. That priest didn’t sleep for weeks afterward.”

“How about if I say please? I don’t want to be cursed -”

“You’re not cursed,” he interrupted. “This is my way of helping you. How often have you been forced to be the nice guy--…er…girl - while someone else gets away with being horrible?” Marinette didn’t answer. But Plagg didn’t need her to. He’d been watching long enough. “Sometimes it’s ok to put yourself first, and I’m not leaving until you know that. And I’ll know if you’re lying. Kwamis can always tell.” The last part was a bluff, but he’d found it had worked to his advantage in the past.

“But after that, you’ll leave?” He nodded solemnly. “And you won’t try to get me to do anything awful?”

“I won’t try to get you to do anything outside of what you need to do,” he held up a tiny paw as though he were a boy scout. “I promise.”

* * *

Tikki landed on Adrien’s pillow. She watched him momentarily, feeling guilty that she was about to wake him up. She prodded him gently at first. But when that didn’t work she started pushing and pulling at his face until he snapped to attention. Adrien cocked his head to the side when he saw her, studying her with quiet intensity. “Who are you?”

“I’m Tikki,” she flashed a smile. Usually when she made herself known she was greeted by screaming. Perhaps it was just because he wasn’t fully awake yet, but Adrien was already far more polite than most she appeared to.

"I’m a Kwami - …a…” she struggled to think of how to name herself. Plagg often called her Angel (mockingly sometimes, with sincere respect the others - and of course, only when he wasn’t calling her Sugar Cube). She had once called herself a fairy, but the person she had appeared to had immediately thrown things at her, saying ‘the fair folk are not to be trusted’. Oh well. Angel it would have to be, then. “I’m an Angel. Or a Protector. Something along those lines. I’m here to help you.”

“With what? Like, getting out of here?” he jerked his thumb in the direction of his window. “The windows are unlocked, but you’d have to have some cat-like reflexes to get down safely.”

“Is that what you want, Adrien?”

“Yes. …how did you know my name?” Tikki backtracked. He might be upset if he knew she’d been spying, and especially if he found out there was a whole dimension of beings like her watching. She swiftly changed the subject.

“This house is beautiful.”

“And enormous, and cold,” Adrien sat up further in his bed, lifting his legs a bit and resting his hands on his knees. “It’s just my dad and I right now, and his assistant and the Goril---my driver. He doesn’t let me leave. My dad, I mean.” Tikki knew all of this, of course, but she let him get it out anyway. “I just feel so trapped.”

Tikki’s intentions at first had merely been to make certain Adrien wasn’t harboring some darkness within his heart. But she was having to quickly reevaluate and change plans. He was sad, but it was understandable. And the only way to try to get that darkness out and bring some light in would be for him to make new friends. Which meant she would have to help him get out of the house. “We’ll get you out. Not tonight, but soon. I promise.” He believed her immediately. He asked no more questions, just laid his head back on his pillow. He motioned for her to join him on a spare patch.

“Thank you, Tikki.”

“You’re welcome, Adrien,” and since it was not in her nature to assume, she had to ask. “May I stay here for a while? I want to help you as best as I can.”

“Of course,” Adrien’s smile already looked brighter. “Aren’t Guardian Angels supposed to stay close by?”


	2. Good Luck and Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagg and Tikki both get to show off their new powers here. And while Tikki's brings about some pleasant changes, Plagg's powers may keep Adrien and Marinette from meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first uploaded the first chapter, I made a mistake that made it look like a one shot. It was never intended to be. I've fixed it now. Part of the interest for me was changing up the Kwamis; they can't grant the suit and super powers now, so how to still have them with powers? I settled on Tikki basically able to give good luck (think the potion from Harry Potter) and Plagg just being his little destructive self. I have a few more ideas that should unfold in later chapters.

“Nathalie, I want to try to go to school.” 

Nathalie arched an eyebrow in response to Adrien's request, but didn't actually say anything. Tikki peeked out of the inside pocket of his shirt and gave him an encouraging smile. “Surely I'm missing out on some ...social aspects, being home schooled like this?”

“Your father believes you engage enough socially through your modeling career,” Nathalie passed him the book she had been holding. “Now, for today's lesson-”

“Those aren't friends, though,” Adrien tried again. “I feel I could learn more by getting to be engaged by my ...uh...” he struggled for the words, “By a group of my peers. My mother -”

“Isn't here right now,” Adrien tensed up. He had not expected his father to show up. But here Gabriel was, his arms crossed and a stern look on his face. “Your mother and I had both agreed that homeschooling was more appropriate.”

“I understand, father,” Adrien was disheartened and ready to give up. But Tikki had other ideas. She waited until no one was looking in her direction, popping out the tiniest bit of her head every few moments to gauge safety. When no one was looking, she blew a kiss towards Adrien. It seemed to sparkle in mid air before planting itself on his cheek.

Adrien hadn't seen her actions, but suddenly he felt more brave. “Half day,” He countered.

“What was that?” Gabriel didn't sound as though he truly cared what the answer was, but Adrien took it as a good sign that his father responded at all. He pressed on.

“A half day at school, the rest of the day here and we can re-evaluate in a few weeks. If my progress goes down you can pull me out of school and I won't complain,” he clenched his fists and met his father's gaze. “Please. Just let me try.”

Gabriel glanced at Nathalie, as though he was waiting for her input. Nathalie, however, knew better. He was simply processing. 

“All right. Nathalie, arrange the paper work. Adrien will go to school from the mornings until lunch time. Lunch will be here, with me. But, Adrien?”

“Yes, father?”

“I mean it. Any signs that your school work is slipping or that the school is not up to what I consider the right standards, you will be withdrawn and you will not be going back. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good,” Gabriel took his leave, merely shrugging his shoulders as Adrien called out thank you after him. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next morning, Marinette slept through her alarm. Plagg heard it, but swatted the phone off the table. It kept buzzing. Marinette kept right on sleeping. “Hmm. Tired girl. Or just a heavy sleeper,” the Kwami curled himself up next to her, looking all the more like a regular kitten in the moment. The alarm continued to blare. 

“Whaa...?” Marinette rolled over sleepily. “Oh,” she glanced over the side of her bed onto the floor and scooped her cell phone up, depositing it back on her night stand before curling back up with Plagg in the bed. 

She laid there with him for only a moment before she bolted straight up, bowling him over in the process. “I'm late!” she screeched, finally turning the alarm off and starting to get ready. 

“School seems boring anyway, why go?”

“I have to go, Plagg!” she had just finished dressing and was now hopping along on one foot as she put a shoe on the other foot. “And I'm so late, and Madame Bustier is going to kill me.” She groaned, but continued getting ready, throwing different supplies into her backpack. She shouldered the pack and started to run out, but Plagg caught up to her and zoomed in front of her face right as she reached her door frame.

“You can't leave me here,” he insisted.

“You can't come to school!”

“Why not? I can just hide in your bag. Just make sure to pack me a lunch. And a snack. ...And dessert.” 

Marinette didn't have time to argue, so she motioned him into her bag and then zipped it up. On her way through the bakery she grabbed a few treats and threw them in as well before heading off in direction of her school.

 

The only person Adrien had that he could tell the exciting news to was Chloe. So no surprise when he showed up and she was arguing with two girls about where Adrien would be sitting. 

“I need you to move to the back,” Chloe was insisting, “Because Adrikins will be sitting here,”

“This is our desk,” the one with glasses was saying, “You don't get to tell us where to sit at,”

Chloe ignored her, seeming to direct her demands at the black, pig tailed girl instead. “Move, Marinette Dupain-Chang. You can sit in the back. Where I don't have to see you.”

“This is our desk,” The girl, Marinette, echoed, “You can move just as easily, Chloe.”

Adrien watched for a while from the door frame, uncertain if he should get involved or why the teacher wasn't saying anything. She was also watching the girls argue, but didn't interfere. When Chloe moved into the other girl's personal space, Adrien decided he should speak up.

“Excuse me?” The girls stopped their arguing to look in his direction. Faster than he thought possible, Chloe was on him, hugging him. “Nice to see you too, Chloe, but could you please let go? You're choking me.”

She nodded, but didn't release him. He awkwardly dragged her across the room as he reached the teacher's desk. “I'm Adrien Agreste. Is there somewhere I should sit?”

“He sits with me!” Chloe practically hissed at her teacher. Madam Bustier shook her head.

“Just sit where you can find an open seat. How about next to Nino?” she pointed at a student in the back wearing a red hat and blatantly ignoring the teacher in favor of whatever music was going through his headphones at the moment. 

Adrien removed Chloe's arms before taking his seat. She huffed, but got back in her own chair. Adrien attempted to greet his new desk mate, but in response Nino asked “Friend of yours?” and gestured to Chloe. When Adrien nodded, Nino rolled his eyes and went back to his music. 

Suddenly Adrien wasn't so certain that this had been the right choice. Inside his pocket, Tikki stirred and popped out just enough to give a friendly pat. It was amazing to him how easily she could communicate that things would be ok and immediately make him feel better.

But as soon as Madame Bustier stepped outside (at the behest of the principle), things suddenly got both more interesting and further threw Adrien for a loop as to whether he wanted to be in this school or not. 

 

He couldn't hear it of course, but Marinette and Plagg were conspiring together. “That little pest...” Marinette muttered under her breath.

“She is a little brat,” Plagg agreed. “Now what do we do about it?”

“Did you say something?” Alya asked, turning in Marinette's direction. Plagg popped his head back into her backpack and Marinette attempted to look innocent. 

“Who, me? No, nothing. Just frustrated with her highness over there,” Marinette rolled her eyes and jerked a thumb in Chloe's direction. Alya nodded.

“Has she always treated you like this?”

“Ever since I first met her,”

“Oof. And you've never gotten even with her?”

Marinette shook her head. She had daydreamed about it, but never had the nerve. And ultimately, she had always been taught that she was better than that and that revenge was for people with lower moral fiber. But with Plagg on hand....

“I suppose,” Marinette said carefully, so that both Plagg and Alya would hear her, “the best revenge would have to do with her hair...”

“Her hair?” Alya asked.

“Yeah. She's always worried about it getting messed up. But I don't know how I'd mess with it in such a way _so that no one would ever suspect me_ ,” she knew that she was putting an odd emphasis on the words in an effort to get Plagg's attention, but what was amazing was that Alya saw nothing wrong with the way Marinette had said it.

“Message received,” Plagg chuckled to himself. He floated out of Marinette's bag and crossed through the room by phasing through other people's bags. It was Sabrina's bag he found the scissors in. Plagg had always been good at not being seen when he wished, and this skill made it so no one noticed him –or the scissors he floated towards Chloe's head. That is, until the sound of the scissors making a cut through the mid length of her ponytail snapped the whole class's attention in her direction. 

The scissors clattered to the floor and Plagg made his exit back to Marinette's bag. 

“What was that?” Chloe asked, oblivious as Sabrina grabbed the blonde hair off the floor and showed it, horrified, to her best friend. Chloe shrieked. “I know you did this, Marinette!” She pushed herself to standing and marched across the room, jabbing a finger in Marinette's chest. 

Alya pushed Chloe's hand away. “Oh? So she just managed to get up with no one noticing and cut your hair?”

“I know she had something to do with this!” Chloe stamped her foot as she again insisted. 

Marinette bit her lip. She hadn't intended something like this. Hair grew back, of course, but this was a lot meaner than she had wanted it to be. “I'm sorry,” she said, but Alya cut her off before she could say anything else.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Alya said fiercely before whirling back around on Chloe. “I don't know who did it, but Marinette's been next to me this entire time. There's no way she did it.”

Adrien watched everything unfold and found he wasn't sure who to help. The obvious choice seemed his childhood friend, but he had to admit that Chloe had been mean to these girls for no reason and that there didn't seem to be any way that Marinette could have cut Chloe's hair without someone having seen her. 

“Adrien?” Tikki whispered from in his pocket. He moved his shirt to the side so he could hear her better. “I think you need to stay away from that Marinette girl. There's something off about her.”

“You don't think she did that to Chloe, do you?”

“Not on her own,” Tikki admitted, “But I get this chill from her...one I've felt before. I wish I could place it. But until I do, please promise me you'll stay away.”

Adrien studied Marinette again, noticing that her blue eyes seemed remorseful. Her face was mostly downturned as Chloe and Alya kept arguing. “She seems nice, though..”

“Please, Adrien.”

“All right. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So why keep them apart for now? I feel that Tikki and Plagg in this world are more frenemies. She's trying to bring good luck to Adrien's life and Plagg being around could spoil that. While I personally do not feel regret at cutting Chloe's hair in this chapter, I feel that Marinette absolutely would feel guilty.


End file.
